You're reading Entrepreneur South Africa, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

Apply now before the closing date of 11 May 2019 for this 12-week online entrepreneurial and impactful business learning course designed and managed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs.

Successful applicants will engage with business coaches and industry mentors to develop their business plans. Startup School’s success is a combination of world class, business focused content, coaches to guide and assist entrepreneurs through the learning journey.

It offers mentors who are successful entrepreneurs with relevant experience, and an opportunity to develop and grow your business further with prize funding up to R100K, which all entrepreneurs are eligible to apply for upon successful completion of the programme.

Founded by some of South Africa’s most successful entrepreneurs, supported by Investec and UCT’s Graduate School of Business Foundation, the Startup School aims to facilitate, support and encourage entrepreneurship in South Africa.

Startup School offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to expand on their business insight

The programme is a challenging and interactive 12-week online learning journey, which also enables participants to develop their network and make new connections. By the end of the course, they will have a comprehensive business plan, extended entrepreneurial network and an enhanced understanding of how to develop and fund a business sustainably.

The course’s unique support structure of start-up coaching alongside comprehensive coursework means that each participant will develop and build on their entrepreneurial mindset. In addition to theoretical and practical learning, there is a strong mentorship pillar to support and grow the entrepreneurs.

Weekly modules include:

Developing an entrepreneur’s mindset

Problem identification and solutions development

Creating an entrepreneurial strategy

Defining and marketing your value proposition

Sales(person)ship

The fundamentals of small business finance

Talent management and staff development

The art of clear and constructive communication

Intrapreneurship: Becoming indispensable

Sharing the dream: Pitching your business plan

Execution and operations

Growth strategies: Where to next?

With over 180 Startup School graduates over the past year the Startup School is growing and enabling more and more of South Africa’s emerging and developing entrepreneurs.

To ensure value, sustainability and cross-subsidisation of the programme there is a nominal administration fee of R950 for entrepreneurs signing up for the programme. The course is valued at R18,900.00, but through the Investec partnership, this nominal fee is all that needs to be paid by the successful applicant.